|
U.S. Navy Aircraft Collides With Chinese Plane
WASHINGTON, April 1 (News Agencies) - A damaged U.S. navy aircraft was forced to land in China after colliding with a Chinese military jet over the South China Sea, U.S. and Chinese officials said Sunday, giving differing details of the incident, which comes at a time of tension between Washington and Beijing.
U.S. officials demanded the return of the EP-3 surveillance aircraft packed with hi-tech equipment after it made an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan.
"We are doing everything we can through diplomatic channels. We are working with China to make sure the aircraft and the crew are returned as soon as possible," Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, told AFP.
He said none of the aircraft's 24 crewmembers were injured in the incident, which occurred in international airspace.
China said Sunday that one of its jet fighters had crashed and the pilot was missing after the collision, the Xinhua state news agency reported from Beijing.
The U.S. Pacific Command said the EP-3 Aries, from Kadena U.S. Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan, was on a routine surveillance mission over the South China Sea about 0015 GMT Sunday when it was intercepted by two Chinese fighter jets over international airspace.
"There was contact between one of the Chinese aircraft and the EP-3, causing sufficient damage for the U.S. plane to issue a 'Mayday' signal and divert to an airfield on Hainan Island," it said in a statement, issued from Camp Smith in Hawaii.
But China said bluntly that the incident was the fault of the U.S. plane, and claimed it had violated Chinese airspace by making an emergency landing on Hainan Island.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told the state-run Xinhua news agency in Beijing that the U.S. surveillance plane had approached China's airspace southeast of the island province of Hainan, and two Chinese military jets had scrambled to track the plane.
At 0207 GMT, 65 miles (104 kilometers) southeast of Hainan Island, the U.S. plane suddenly turned towards the Chinese jets, bumping into and damaging one of them, Xinhua quoted Zhu as saying.
Zhu said the U.S. plane intruded into China's airspace and landed without permission at Lingshui Airport in Hainan at 0133 GMT Sunday, Xinhua reported.
He said the aircraft's crew was being cared for appropriately.
A spokesman said the Pacific Command had received one communication from the crew after they landed in China, but no subsequent direct information on their whereabouts and well being.
In that communication "they did pass on that there were no injuries," said the spokesman, Navy Chief Petty Officer Doug Holl.
"We've got assurances our crew is safe and sound and that we'll get to see them soon, and we've got some people on the way down [to Hainan] tomorrow," Joseph Prueher, the U.S. ambassador to China, said in an interview with CNN in Beijing.
Prueher, who reportedly met with senior Chinese officials to discuss the incident, acknowledged Chinese reports that its jet fighter had crashed as a result of the collision.
"It appears the Chinese have lost some aircraft and we're sorry that occurred," Prueher said.
The United States expressed concern about its plane and crew to the government of China via its embassy in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in Washington, the Pacific Command said.
"We expect that the [Chinese government] will respect the integrity of the aircraft and the well-being and safety of the crew in accordance with international practices, expedite any necessary repairs to the aircraft, and facilitate the immediate return of the aircraft and crew," the Pacific Command statement said.
Full details of damage to the U.S. aircraft, a four-engine reconnaissance aircraft outfitted with hi-tech electronic surveillance equipment, were not immediately available.
"At this point we really don't know the full extent of the damage," U.S. Commander Rex Totty told AFP. "We know that the number one engine and the underside of the EP-3 were damaged."
The incident comes as U.S. President George W. Bush stands on the threshold of a momentous policy decision - one which could shape U.S.-China relations for the rest of his presidency - of whether to sell high-tech arms to independence-minded Taiwan, despite Beijing's vehement opposition.
That decision is expected in the next few weeks.
China's leadership and the new U.S. administration are just getting acquainted, but relations are already testy amid sharp words from Washington over the detention of two U.S.-based scholars in China, and the embarrassing defection of a top colonel of the People's Liberation Army to the United States.
|
